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Tuesday, September 28, 2004

`Catwoman` Halle draws no purrs from Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow has not very flattering things to say about Halle Berry's performance in Catwoman, hinting that she could have played the role of the feline superwoman in a better and more convincing way.
Paltrow revealed that she was very keen to play Patience Phillips, but is now relieved that she agreed to star in upcoming action movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow instead.

The Shakespeare in Love star went on to say that she reached this conclusion after watching Halle's 'uninspiring performance' in Catwoman.

"I did this film because it was something completely different. Although, there is something incredibly appealing about Catwoman, being that woman and playing that part," Ananova quoted Paltrow as saying.

"At the time I really wanted the role. But if I was going to take something on, I wanted it to be something that nobody had ever seen or done. And if it was going to fail, it was going to fail, but I wanted to take that risk and not be in a standard Hollywood adventure. After seeing Catwoman, I thought the character and movie were unoriginal," added the blonde beauty.

Saturday, September 25, 2004

'T4' Producers Hope Schwarzenegger 'Will Be Back'

He has his hands full as governor of Kah-lee-forn-ee-ah, but producers of the next "Terminator" movie are talking to Arnold Schwarzenegger in hopes that he'll be back for at least a small role, a spokesman for backers of the film said on Friday.

Fourteen months after "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" had its premiere, development of "T4" is in full swing with the same producers aiming to start shooting next year, said Dennis Higgins, a spokesman for financing partner Intermedia.

Talks also are under way with "Terminator 3" director Jonathan Mostow to return for the next sequel, and he is overseeing the draft of a script by writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who shared screenplay credits on the last film, Higgins said.

The "Terminator" series ranks as one of the most successful film franchises ever. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," grossed more than $500 million worldwide after its 1991 release, while "T3" generated $430 million at the global box office.

One question producers have is whether Schwarzenegger can tear himself away from the demands of state government long enough to return as the virtually indestructible, lead-slinging cyborg from the future.

The Austrian-born actor-turned-politician clinched a record $30 million salary to reprise his signature film role in "T3."

"We're certainly talking to Arnold and his people," Higgins said. "He obviously has a day job that he has to take into consideration. But we're talking to him."

A source close to the production acknowledged that it was unlikely that Schwarzenegger would be available to star, but said producers hoped that he could play a "minor role."

Schwarzenegger's personal financial advisor Paul Wachter said, "It is not even on our radar screen ... Arnold is signing bills." He did not rule a possible cameo appearance but added, "Is it is realistic that while he is in office, he takes a starring role? Hardly."

Schwarzenegger, who assumed office as governor in November, has said he would put his Hollywood career on hold while in office and focus on the business of the state.

Britney's dad got a shock on her wedding day!

Pop diva Britney Spears' father Jamie got the biggest shock of his life on September 18 when his daughter turned an engagement party into a surprise wedding ceremony.

Jamie had turned up at the private home in Studio City, Los Angeles, for Britney's engagement party, but didn't read the surprise invitation that he received upon his arrival properly, and was thoroughly confused when people started congratulating Kevin Federline.

"My dad said, 'Why is everyone congratulating Kevin?' I said, 'Daddy, did you read the invitation?' He said yup. I said, 'You might want to read it again," rate the music quoted Britney's brother Bryan, as saying.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Britney Spears Is Not A Girl, Not Yet A Married Woman

Did she or didn't she? In a war of celebrity gossip mags of a magnitude that hasn't been seen for some time, Us Weekly and People magazine are running conflicting stories speculating on the validity of Britney Spears' weekend wedding.

According to Us, the seemingly spur-of-the-moment wedding was a hoax, designed to throw celebrity photographers off the trail of the real wedding so that Spears and her man, Kevin Federline, could successfully sell exclusive wedding photos to People. People, on the other hand, are saying that the small weekend ceremony was the real deal.

Either way, it does appear that Spears and Federline are not yet legally married. Spears admitted to People that the couple has not yet filed their marriage license, but that they plan to next week. She told the magazine that while she may not yet be able to change her driver's license to Britney Federline, "in a spiritual sense, we're married… I believe you also marry in your heart and that means much more than a piece of paper." Federline also spoke to People, mimicking his "wife" perfectly: "This was such a spiritual connection for us… No piece of paper can capture what I feel."

Hmm, sounds suspiciously like Brandy's fake marriage to producer Robert Smith, which she called "a spiritual union and a true commitment to each other" despite the fact that the two were also not legally hitched.

While no one knows for sure if the Spears-Federlines are just too lazy to file their paperwork or if they're still planning a huge fairytale ceremony, the most important factor has been taken care of. Both People and Us Weekly confirm that the prenuptial agreement has indeed been signed.

Britney Not Legally Married Yet?

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are still not legally married despite a weekend ceremony that was such a surprise not even the parents and bridesmaids knew they were going to a wedding.

Jess Cagle, People magazine senior editor and contributor to The Early Show,
"A lot was complicated because they moved up the date and next week, they’re going to file all of the paper work," he said.

So they’re not legally married now? "Not yet, although they have sort of followed everything by the book and that is the next bump in the story that you’re going to see: The wedding was a fake. It’s really not."

Spears was able to keep the wedding a surprise, Cagle said, because "she kept her mouth shut." In fact, it was such a surprise that Federline’s children, including his daughter who was supposed to be a flower girl, were at Disneyland and couldn’t be there for the wedding.

"The mother, the sister, the father. They showed up at the house. It was not an engagement party that they had been invited to, but a wedding," Cagle said. People magazine will have exclusive photos of the wedding in its Friday issue.

Cagle described it as a classic affair with the bride wearing a tasteful, white $26,000 designer gown.

"All of the groomsmen and the bridesmaids had had their clothes fitted the week before so those clothes were secretly brought to the house," Cagle said. "They said, 'Surprise, we’re getting married, here are your clothes. Get in them.'"

The sweatsuits that had been described and pictured in the media were worn at the party that followed the wedding, Cagle said. “Everyone had beautiful clothes during the ceremony. After the ceremony, Britney had put on something else and then before they all went out partying later after the reception, they all put on juicy sweats."

Also untrue are reports of a cash bar at the reception. "I think after they all went out to a club, maybe some people paid for their drinks,"
Cagle said. "However, they did get a drink free at the house after the reception."

Spears reportedly was reluctant to require Federline to sign a prenuptial agreement as her advisers had recommended. "She has agreed on a pre-nup with Kevin and they have signed their marriage license," Cagle said.

Spears, who has spent some time with Federline’s two children, already has said she wants to to become a mother fairly soon. Cagle says she also is considering changing her name to Britney Federline.

Among about 20 stunned family members at Saturday's nuptials: Spears' own mother, Lynne. According to Access Hollywood, which spent Saturday afternoon with Spears' mother and little sis Jamie Lynn, the family was preparing for an engagement party. Jamie Lynn died her hair back to her natural brown hue and neither were expecting the bride- and groom-to-be to exchange vows.

The five-minute wedding was held at 7:30 p.m. at the home of the tailor that created the bridal party's tuxedos, according to Star magazine's Web site. Star reports Spears wore a strapless white dress by designer Monique L'Huillier, with long veil and tiara, and she carried a bouquet of pink and white roses. Five bridesmaids and the maid of honor wore burgundy dresses and carried red roses. The groom and his groomsmen wore black tuxes. Entertainment Tonight reports they were on hand outside the home when the party broke up in the wee morning hours.

Invitations for an Oct. 16 wedding near Santa Barbara had already been mailed, according to Star, but that event is now being billed as a post-wedding party for the newlyweds' friends and family.

Spears gave no hints of wedding jitters in the days before Saturday's ceremony. She was in New York most of the week to launch her perfume, Curious, and catch a performance of the Broadway show, Wicked! The bride-to-be flew to Boston Friday to check out the Onyx Hotel, according to a Friday post on britneyspears.com by the singer's mother.

The only family event Lynne was anticipating in her Friday posting was a wrap party for Jamie Lynn's Nickelodeon show, Zoey 101.

No word on whether the couple are heading on a surprise honeymoon, too. Spears and Federline, a backup dancer on one of her earlier concert tours, met at a Hollywood club in April and fell fast for each other. In June, they announced their engagement with intentions of marrying this fall. Most reports pointed to a November wedding.

Madonna's Pilgrimage Plea for World Peace

Pop diva Madonna today called for world peace at a conference on Jewish mysticism – a highlight of her five-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Israel hopes the star – the biggest pop celebrity to visit in years – will revive tourism battered by four years of Mideast violence, and government officials were on hand at a Tel Aviv hotel to share the spotlight, the glory and the photographs.

Madonna, wearing a low-cut dress with a black and white leopard pattern, said she was hesitant to come to Israel ”after seeing so many news reports about terror attacks” and reading State Department travel warnings.

“I realise now that it is no more dangerous to be here than it is to be in New York,” she told the gathering.

At the gala event, an Israeli children’s choir and a Palestinian sang to the gathering of more than 1,000 people. Israeli Tourism Minister Gideon Ezra presented Madonna with a small gift and praised her for coming to Israel.

Ezra told Israel TV that he looked forward to sitting next to her at dinner and hoped “she will say nice things about us”.

Tourism officials hope the singer’s well-publicised visit to Israel will calm fears that have kept many potential tourists away from the Holy Land, despite its religious and other attractions.

Speaking without notes, Madonna said the people she met during her five-day Holy Land trip “have one thing in common – we want to create peace in the world.

“We want to put an end to chaos and suffering,” she said, “but most of all we want to put an end to hatred with no reason.”

The singer said she was not representing a religion. Rather, she said: “I’m here as a student of Kabbalah. A Kabbalist sees the world as a unified whole. A Kabbalist asks why.”

While many Israelis welcomed the singer and her entourage, others were uncomfortable with the mission.

Over the years, observant Jews have considered Kabbalah a powerful, even potentially dangerous undertaking to be tackled only by the most qualified and learned men. Now, many Orthodox Jews reject the adoption of Kabbalah by non-Jewish pop figures as a desecration of the holy.

Earlier today, Madonna went to the Kiryat Shaul cemetery outside Tel Aviv to visit the grave of a famous Jewish mysticist.

Guarded by police, Madonna and husband, Guy Ritchie, walked past rows of tombstones to the grave of the Kabbalist sage Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag.

Polish born Ashlag is the renowned author of the Sulam, the ladder, a commentary on the core Kabbalistic text, the Zohar. He died in 1954.

Madonna, wearing jeans, a black and grey checked sweater with a matching cap and a large diamond encrusted letter E on a chain to symbolise her adopted name Esther, spent more than an hour inside the stone mausoleum, placing candles on the tomb, praying and chanting.

Led by a rabbi, Madonna and her small entourage recited blessings over food and wine, drank from small plastic cups and circled the raised stone grave. Toward the end of the ceremony, Madonna wiped tears from her eyes.

Adherents of Jewish mysticism believe that praying at the graves of sages can help achieve one’s wishes. Millions make pilgrimages every year to the more than 100 of these burial sites across the Holy Land, praying for health, children or to find a mate.

Nicole Kidman is Australia's richest young woman.

Nicole Kidman is Australia's richest young woman, BRW magazine says in its list of the country's top earners under age 40. The actress, 37, has an estimated worth of $108 million, the magazine said. She came in fourth over all but was the highest-ranked woman on the list. No. 1 was the mobile phone magnate John Ilhan, 39, with $210 million.

Jerusalem - Two bodyguards protecting Madonna on a spiritual retreat in Israel have been arrested after putting two photographers in hospital.

The bodyguards hit the photographers as they tried to snap the 45-year-old American superstar at her Mediterranean seafront hotel in Tel Aviv, the radio said.

The self-proclaimed Material Girl, a keen aficionado of the ancient Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah, arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a three-day retreat, which began with a traditional blessing ceremony to welcome in the Jewish New Year.

Madonna turned to Kabbalah in 1997 after coming into contact with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre which, according to its website, offers a path to spiritual enlightenment through an eclectic mix of Orthodox Jewish tradition, visualisation and positive thinking.

Two months ago, she took the Hebrew name Esther and is now reportedly observing the Jewish sabbath, although she has not converted to Judaism.

Former child star Macaulay Culkin has been arrested in the US on drug possession charges.

The 24-year-old actor was jailed on charges of possessing marijuana and a dangerous controlled substance without a prescription, police said.

He and another man were arrested after the car they were travelling in was pulled over in Oklahoma City on Friday.

Culkin, best known for his role in the film Home Alone, was later released after paying a $4,000 (£2,230) bond.

Speeding

A report from Oklahoma County Sheriff's office said authorities confiscated about 17 grams of marijuana from a vehicle in which Culkin was a passenger.

Officers also found 16 milligrams of prescription medications used to control anxiety and seizures, it said.

Their vehicle had been stopped by officers for driving at 70 mph in a 60 mph speed zone and for making an improper lane change.

Captain Jeffrey Becker of the Oklahoma City Police Department said in a statement that police officers, who were given permission to search the car, found marijuana and $3,000 (£1,675) cash in a bag that Culkin said belonged to him.

State charges

Culkin was also allegedly carrying pills, later identified as Xanex and Clonzebam, in his pocket, and admitted that he did not have a prescription for them, the statement added.

"Culkin was transported to the Oklahoma County Jail and booked on the state charges of possession of a controlled dangerous substance without a prescription, possession of marijuana, and a municipal charge of possession of marijuana," it said.

Both men were later released. Culkin's publicist, Michelle Bega, declined to comment.

Culkin was one of the highest paid child actors of all time when he starred in two Home Alone films in 1990 and 1992.

Jessica Simpson As Daisy Duke A Match Made In Heaven

The hottest news for adolescent male teens and middle-aged men is that Jessica Simpson, singer and ditzy reality star, will make her acting debut as Daisy Duke in the feature film adaptation of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' alongside Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville.

Now I will admit that I watched the television series, as much to watch Catherine Bach in her Daisy Duke shorts as to see the General Lee jump over creeks and hit the dirt ramps. The show, detailing the exploits of Bo and Luke Duke against the evil Boss Hogg, was one of those mind-numbing necessities of growing up in the early eighties - a chance at escapism involving hot cars and hot, wholesome women.

So what better person to take over the role than the reigning queen of hotness and wholesomeness - Jessica Simpson. With her singing career taking off with her marriage to Nick Lachey and their suprise reality hit Newlyweds, Simpson has become the epitome of ditzy blonde and sensuous celebrity.

Singer Madonna arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a spiritual pilgrimage to mark the Jewish New Year.

The singer and her family will join 2,000 other students of Kabbalah, a type of Jewish mysticism taught regardless of religion.

The profile of Kabbalah has been growing in the past year, largely due to Madonna's involvement.

The trip could be controversial, as her itinerary includes a tomb in Bethlehem, on Israeli-occupied Palestinian land.

Thousands of police have been drafted in for the group, with details closely guarded because of security fears.

Jewish graves

The singer is expected to visit graves of Jewish sages in northern Israel, as well as the Western Wall in Jerusalem and Rachel's Tomb, the traditional burial place of the biblical matriarch, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

"These are energy vortexes," explained Rabbi Shaul Youdkevitch, head of the Kabbalah Center in Israel.

Having stars in the country is a wonderful way to show the world the wonders of our nation

Rami Levi
Israel Tourism Ministry
"It is known among Kabbalists, among people that study Kabbalah, that you can go there and recharge yourself with positive energy."

Pro-Palestinian activists are planning to protest if Madonna does visit the shrine in Bethlehem.

During her trip, she will also give a speech at an event bringing together Israeli and Palestinian children, supported by Kabbalist scholar Michael Berg.

"A gathering of this magnitude can have the power to diminish the volatile gap between Israeli and Arab communities to help the people recognise that love is stronger than hate and peace is the focus for the future."

Red bracelet

More usually known for her raunchy outfits, Madonna's interest in Kabbalah became public when she was spotted wearing its traditional red string bracelet.

Since then, a string of high-profile celebrities including Britney Spears and Courtney Love have been seen sporting the bracelet.

The number of centres dedicated to the faith is continually growing, particularly in the US, where there are centres in many major cities. There are also centres in London and Paris.

On Sunday, Israeli Tourism Minister Gideon Ezra is expected to give Madonna an ancient oil lamp and a coin from the Byzantine period.

"There's no question having stars in the country is a wonderful way to show the world the wonders of our nation," said Rami Levi of Israel's Tourism Ministry.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

One of the best known black personalities on British TV said yesterday that 'gangsta' street culture was a 'deadly virus'.

One of the best known black personalities on British TV said yesterday that 'gangsta' street culture was a 'deadly virus' that was destroying a generation of African-Caribbean boys.
BBC sports presenter and former Tottenham Hotspur striker Garth Crooks said there was a direct link between films and rap music glorifying violence and the drift of black boys away from education and into crime and violence.

'There is an epidemic out there, and it is killing some of our children. Do you think there could be a correlation between this and the growing dissipation of our cultural values?' he said.

Crooks's passionate plea to the black community to tackle the issue of gangsta street culture was delivered to 2,000 delegates attending the third London Schools and the Black Child conference to discuss the increasing crisis of black children's underperformance in the education system. Addressing himself directly to young black men, Crooks said: 'As for the youngsters in our community who think they are gangsters; grow up. You are pathetic. You are not gangsters or clever. You are kids and it's time to impose zero tolerance.'

He continued: 'Street culture will become a deadly virus ripping indiscriminately through our next gen eration, robbing millions of their potential.'

Crooks said his strict Jamaican parents had instilled in him a respect for decent family values. 'In my day it was only the rude white boys who did not go to school. We were too afraid.'

His words were echoed by outspoken Labour MP Diane Abbott and Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality. Abbott, who has organised the conference for the past three years, told The Observer : 'It is important to understand just how seriously we are taking this problem. Two thousand people turned out for this event on a Saturday morning.

'For every boy from our community at a university campus today, there are two in jail. That is the measure of the crisis we face.'

Phillips also argued that the Commission for Racial Equality should survive as a separate anti-racist body. He said government plans to merge it with bodies responsible for gender and disability rights were misguided.

Phillips and Crooks both defended Abbott's decision to take her son out of the state system and send him to the exclusive City of London boys' school.

Phillips invoked the words of black civil rights leader Malcolm X by saying black parents had to fight for the survival of their children 'by any means necessary'.

An opinion poll conducted by Mori for the Greater London Authority found that 55 per cent of Londoners believe the teaching profession should reflect the city's ethnic diversity, while 29 per cent disagreed.

Last year the proportion of black teachers in London was 2.9 per cent. The latest figures for school pupils show that 19.5 per cent are black. The proportion of all non-white pupils in London was 43.5 per cent, while ethnic minority teachers made up 7.4 per cent.

A report commissioned by the London Development Agency to tie in with the conference reported that 70 per cent of African-Caribbean pupils left school with fewer than five high-grade GCSEs.

The report concluded that low teacher expectations played a major part in the underachievement of black children and that black pupils found they were encouraged by black teachers.

As such the editions were prepared during Shakespeare's life and they are likely to be more authentic versions of the plays than the First Folio editions that were published seven years after the Bard's death in 1616.

The texts of the plays are thought to be the closest versions to the way that the plays were actually written and performed.

"Given that Shakespeare left no manuscripts behind, the quartos are as close as we are able to get to what he actually wrote," said Ms Goff.

"They take us behind the First Folio and different quarto versions of the plays provide clues to Shakespeare's own revisions of his works."

Copy control

The quarto editions are thought to be Shakespeare's working drafts, copies for rehearsals or records of versions remembered by actors.

Quartos were not produced in large numbers because they were not very popular or profitable.

Many of the quartos featured in the online collection are from collections amassed by King George III and 18th century actor David Garrick.

The different versions of plays show that some of the most famous lines in the Shakespearean canon changed from one performance to another.

For instance Hamlet's famous line: "To be, or not to be, that is the question" appears in a quarto from 1605. However in an earlier edition produced in 1603 it is written as: "To be, or not to be, I there's the point".

The 21 plays featured on the website include many of Shakespeare's best known works including King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Love's Labours Lost, Romeo and Juliet and Othello.

The Pet Shop Boys will unveil their new soundtrack to the 1925 film Battleship Potemkin at a "unique" free concert in London's Trafalgar Square

The pop duo will perform the soundtrack with the Dresden Sinfoniker orchestra to accompany a screening of the film.

Singer Neil Tennant said: "We liked the idea that we were going to take something made in the 1920s and put contemporary electronic music to it."

He told BBC One's Breakfast that the 73-minute work includes two new songs.

Battleship Potemkin has influenced many artists and film-makers
The show is part of a season of events taking place in the square organised by Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).

"The ICA approached us because they knew we had a background of using film with our music - our first tour, for example, was directed by Derek Jarman," said Tennant.

Sergei Eisenstein's classic tells of a sailors' revolt in 1904, and has been a major influence on film-makers and artists.

Tennant said he was a fan of Soviet and Russian films after studying history at college.

"The director, Eisenstein, said that he wanted there to be a new soundtrack to the film every 10 years to keep it fresh," Tennant said.

He also said he and musical partner Chris Lowe were keen to discover "whether we could write an hour and a quarter of continuous music".

Tennant said the new Pet Shop Boys' soundtrack "changes the way you see the movie", emphasising its "modernist quality".

"It's really exciting in London that you have got an event you can turn up and see the premiere of a new work," he said. "It's really a completely unique event."

Artists influenced by Battleship Potemkin include Francis Bacon, who said he was haunted by the screaming mouth in the film and was inspired to use it in his own work.

Robert De Niro has rebutted claims he should not be granted Italian citizenship because his portrayal of Mafia men damages the country.

The part-Italian actor defended the parts, saying: "The characters I play are real. So they have as much right to be portrayed as any other characters."

His citizenship ceremony was postponed after objections from US-based group the Order of Sons of Italy.

But despite their outcry, the event is now due to go ahead in Rome in October.

The protesters had ignored scores of other parts he had played in his career, the 61-year-old star said.

I'm very proud and honoured to be asked to be a citizen

Robert De Niro
Besides roles such as Mafia boss Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, De Niro has played Italian-Americans in Goodfellas, Once Upon A Time In America and Mean Streets.

His other acclaimed movies include Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Meet the Parents.

De Niro was born in New York after his great-grandparents emigrated to the US from Ferrazzano, in Italy's central Molise region, at the end of the 19th Century.

He has damaged their image by constantly playing criminal roles that tarnish their reputation

Joseph Sciame
The Sons of Italy
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, he said: "I'm part Italian, part Dutch, part French, part German and part Irish, but I probably identify more with my Italian side than any other parts.

"Italy is such a great and wonderful country, I'm very proud and honoured to be asked to be a citizen."

The Sons of Italy group's president Joseph Sciame wrote to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to complain about De Niro receiving the award.

He wrote: "He has done nothing to promote the image of Italians. He has damaged their image by constantly playing criminal roles that tarnish their reputation."

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Resident Evil: Apocalypse: Supermodel warriors and a creature in a kilt

So there are these two supermodels, decked out in survivalist-dominatrix gear.

And one model cheekbones to the other as she checks her pistol: "We're running out of ammo."

The first one, the veteran of these Resident Evil movies, glowers and puckers up. She's the star. She's the narrator. She's the one who said, "We thought we had survived the horror. But we were wrong!" in the opening. She locks and loads, because the star never runs out of ammo.

The things a girl has to do to escape the rigors of the catwalk.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse isn't the end of moviegoing as we know it. Not good or even competent, not bad enough to be funny, the scariest thing about it may be this piece of info about the audience -- the trailer was downloaded 8.5 million times last fall.

There's no stopping Evil. But it's worth a try.

Milla Jovovich returns as Alice, the security specialist trapped in a bio-weapons experiment gone horribly wrong in Resident Evil. She's been kept on ice by her mutlinational employer. She's revived because the residents of "The Hive" have escaped and devoured Raccoon City.

What kind of nitwit screenwriter names his fictional movie town "Raccoon City"? The guy who went on to direct Alien vs. Predator, Paul W.S. Anderson, that's who.

The dead aren't staying dead. (Yes, George A. Romero, Night of the Living Dead, came up with the "original" story.)

A few live folks are trapped in town. There's the hottie cop (Sienna Guillory of Love, Actually), the company mercenary (Oded Fehr of The Mummy), a "colorful" black pimp (Mike Epps) and a TV anchor who blubbers idiotic lines like "There's still no explanation for this unexplained wave of violence."

The gang has a mission -- rescue the daughter of the scientist who devised this epidemic. They face flesh-eating zombies that nobody ever calls zombies and gargoyle-like super-monsters and one mother of a creature dressed in a leather kilt.

Yeah, a kilt.

Thomas Kreschmann is the actor who escaped East Germany by hiking over the mountains into the West only to be typecast as generic German villains by Hollywood. He plays the heartless head of the Umbrella Corp. Fehr wears a lot of armor and shoots a lot of guns and tries not to look bored.

Guillory, a younger version of The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss, is pretty cool in her tube top, commando boots and miniskirt. She matches Jovovich round for round, cheekbone for cheekbone.

But they're all just clocking in and doing the devil's work here. That would be Alexander Witt, a longtime second-unit director who brings no wit other than his surname to the enterprise. He's all about the gallons of gore and the gunfire and the editing that makes the models look like real bar brawlers.

Zeta-Jones Stalker Ruled Competent

Things came to a halt in July when Knight overdosed on barbiturates while in jail. The court ordered the 33-year-old to be checked out by a psychiatrist, who concluded that Knight understood the charges against her and could assist in her own defense.

The defendant faces 24 counts of stalking Zeta-Jones via threatening phone calls and letters over an 18 month period. Her lawyer, Richard Herman, said Wednesday that his client’s pill popping was the result of an emotional day in court the day before, during which Zeta-Jones testified and read out portions of Knight’s letters.

"She basically needed a break so that she could compose herself,” Herman told reporters. “At the time when we called the break, she was having difficulty coping with the pressures of the hearing.

Kidman, Bacall take Birth to Normandy

Film diva Nicole Kidman, 24 hours after dazzling the Venice film festival even if her new movie did not, was set for another star turn at yet another celebration of cinema on Thursday, this time in the French seaside resort of Deauville.

Kidman's latest oeuvre, Jonathan Glazer's "Birth", is in competition at Deauville's annual festival of American cinema. Accompanying Kidman will be screen legend Lauren Bacall, who plays her mother in the film.

In "Birth", Kidman's character, Anna, decides to remarry ten years after the death of her beloved husband. But her world is turned upside down when a ten-year-old boy claiming to be her dead husband's reincarnation walks into her life.

The film got mixed reviews - in the form of boos and applause - when presented in Venice, but Kidman seems to have held audiences enthralled.

Also showing at the northern resort on Thursday was Joshua Marston's "Maria Full of Grace," a much-praised portrayal of a young woman who elects to transport illegal drugs to New York in order to escape an impoverished, dead-end existence in Colombia.

Closing out the day's screenings was "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the much-anticipated second feature film by Michel Gondry starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

TV Sex Affects Teens

Children who watched a lot of TV with sexual content were about twice as likely to start having intercourse during the subsequent year as those with little exposure to televised sex, researchers found.

High exposure to TV sex among those age 12 to 17 also was linked with a lower but still substantially increased risk of starting non-intercourse behavior, including passionate kissing and oral sex, the researchers found. Even shows that only refer to sex but don't depict it had the effect, they found.

"Exposure to TV that included only talk about sex was associated with the same risks as exposure to TV that depicted sexual behavior," said Rand Corp. behavioral scientist Rebecca Collins and colleagues.

From innuendoes to depictions of intercourse, sex is pervasive on TV, present in about two-thirds of all shows other than news and sports, and teens watch an average of three hours of television daily, previous research has shown.

TV thus "may create the illusion that sex is more central to daily life than it truly is and may promote sexual initiation as a result," the researchers said.

"When they're watching it for three hours a day, it really does become their social world. Those characters are people they identify with and pay attention to," said Collins, the lead researcher.

That "sends kids the message that everybody's having sex and nobody's thinking about responsibility and nothing bad ever happens," Collins said. "You don't see the fade to black, the couple has sex, and the next morning says, 'You gave me an STD.'"

The study appears in September's Pediatrics, released Tuesday.

The results are based on nationwide telephone surveys of 1,792 adolescents queried in 2001 and again in 2002. Parental consent for participation was obtained before the interviews.

The researchers devised a list of 23 popular shows that on average featured abundant sexual content. Programs the researchers considered high in sexual content included "That '70s Show," "Friends" and "Sex and the City" - all popular with teens.

Participants then were asked how often they watched those 23 shows. They also were asked whether they engaged in various sexual activities; results were compared from the two surveys.

The number of teens who reported having had intercourse climbed from about 18 percent to 36 percent. The number who'd had sexual experiences other than intercourse climbed from 62 percent to 75 percent, Collins said.

Factors that increased the likelihood of having intercourse included being older, having older friends and getting poor grades. But even considering those factors, television still remained a strong influence, the researchers said.

Many youngsters start having sex during their teen years, and previous data show that 46 percent of high school students say they've had intercourse. But many say they wish they'd waited longer to have sex, and television might be among factors influencing them to become sexually active too soon, the researchers said.

Liliana Escobar-Chaves, a researcher at the University of Texas School of Public Health, said the findings illustrate the importance of parents viewing and discussing TV with their kids, and of encouraging TV writers to depict sex responsibly.

The latter effort is a focus of The Media Project, a Los Angeles-based advocacy program that works with TV networks to include accurate and responsible sex images in programming.

"We want kids to look at television with an educated eye," said Melissa Havard, the group's director.

One example is an HIV/AIDS effort the group has collaborated on with media giant Viacom, whose properties include CBS and MTV. In the past year and a half, Viacom has produced 22 shows with positive HIV messages, including a "Star Trek" episode in which Vulcans had to deal with the stigma of having an AIDS-like disease, said Viacom spokesman Carl Folta.

But while acknowledging that television "certainly can make an impact," Folta was skeptical of the study results.

"I don't think television makes anybody do anything," Folta said. It's just one of many factors that influence young people's lives, he said.

The Venice Film Festival has been hit by a number of gaffes including Al Pacino ending up with no seat at his own movie premiere.

A computer glitch has been blamed for producing 200 too many tickets for the screening of The Merchant of Venice.

Pacino eventually got a place a few rows from the front, but the delay pushed back the premiere of Finding Neverland to 2am.

Organisers say the festival has fallen victim to its own success.

The Venice Film Festival has grown enormously this year, attracting more of Hollywood's big players who have chosen to premiere their films there.

"We have put a Ferrari engine in a small, old Fiat 500 car," said Davide Croff, president of the Venice Biennale, which oversees the festival.

Organisers admit there have been bigger crowds than anticipated, while many studios have demanded their films be shown in the first five days of the 11-day event.

'Never going back'

There has also been a problem with outdated infrastructure.

Pacino's problems with finding a seat meant the screening of The Merchant of Venice was 70 minutes late, pushing back the already tight schedule.

"In my entire life as a producer I've never seen anything like this at a festival, and for this reason I'm never coming back to Venice,", Merchant co-producer Michael Lionello Cowan told La Nuova newspaper.

But Merchant of Venice producer, Barry Navidi, said the situation resolved itself without too much problem.

Quentin Tarantino has selected rare Italian movies to showcase
"Even though there were a number of difficulties and a chaotic situation for the premiere, Al Pacino was delighted and happy that so many people wanted to see this movie," Navidi told news agency Cinecitta News.

The larger-than-life boss of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, was less than thrilled that the premiere of his movie Finding Neverland was pushed back to early morning.

"Welcome to the breakfast screening of Neverland," Weinstein joked to the audience.

"This morning (festival director Marco) Muller will be serving the croissants and I'll be teaching him the meaning of 'timing'.

'Movie geek dream'

"Then I'll drown him in the lagoon, with his feet encased in cement."

Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino has flown into Venice to present a retrospective of eclectic Italian films, along with Gremlins director Joe Dante.

The unusual selection, under the banner Italian Kings of the Bs, includes Cannibal Holocaust, Orgasm and The Big Gundown.

"To actually see them all in Italian, restored and in their original form, it's a movie geek dream," said Tarantino.

Michael Moore plans to enter Fahrenheit 9/11 as best picture, rather than best documentary, at the Academy Awards.

The film, which slams President George W Bush's war on terror, has become the highest grossing documentary.

But Moore said he hoped to have the film aired on television before November's presidential election to reach "as many Americans as possible".

According to Academy rules, this would invalidate its entry in the documentary category, but not for best film.

Moore said, for him, the "real Oscar" would be President Bush's defeat and added he "had not given up trying" to get the film broadcast on television before the election.

I told my crew who worked on the film, let's let someone else have that Oscar

Michael Moore

He said: "Although I have no assurance from our home video distributor that they would allow a one-time television broadcast - and the chances are they probably won't - I have decided it is more important to take that risk and hope against hope that I can persuade someone to put it on TV, even if it's the night before the election.

"Therefore, I have decided not to submit Fahrenheit 9/11 for consideration for the Best Documentary Oscar.

"If there is even the remotest of chances that I can get this film seen by a few million more Americans before election day, then that is more important to me than winning another documentary Oscar."

Moore won the best documentary Oscar in 2003 with anti-gun culture film Bowling for Columbine.

'Propaganda'

The deadline to submit Fahrenheit 9/11 for the documentary category was last Wednesday.

Moore added: "I told my crew who worked on the film, let's let someone else have that Oscar."

He also said he wanted to be "supportive of my team-mates in non-fiction film", including documentaries such as Super Size Me and Control Room.

"It's not that I want to be disrespectful and say I don't ever want to win a [documentary] Oscar again," Moore said.

"This just seems like the right thing to do... I don't want to take away from the other nominees and the attention that they richly deserve."

Fahrenheit 9/11, which also attacks President Bush's policy on Iraq, has been cheered by Democrats but has enraged supporters of the president, with some calling it "propaganda".

Moore, who was an unofficial speaker at the Democratic convention in Boston in July, was booed last week by delegates at the Republican convention in New York.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Author JK Rowling has given fans a brief preview of the next instalment of the Harry Potter book series.

Visitors to her website had to play a darts game and crack a code to read two lines of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

The first revealed line read: "He looked rather like an old lion."

Rowling is still writing the sixth instalment, which will prelude the final Harry Potter novel in which he will face enemy Lord Voldemort.

Mystery prince

The second line read: "There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp."

The website did not explain who was being described or from which section of the novel the extract was taken.

The book's title refers to a "half blood" - a character in the fantasy series who has a non-wizard for a parent.

Rowling has not revealed the identity of the "prince" in the title or the book's publication date.

Depp - who plays author JM Barrie in the movie - was asked if, like Peter Pan, he would like to stay young forever.

"Nowadays, it's all a question of surgery, isn't it?" the 41-year-old actor said.

"No, of course the notion is beautiful - the idea of staying a boy or a child forever. But I think you can. I've known plenty of people in their later years who were like little kids, had the energy of little children, the curiosity and fascination.

"But I think it's great fun growing old. I think it's great."

Cannes rival

Tim Robbins' film of his satirical play Embedded is being screened at the festival, along with The Take by anti-globalisation campaigner Naomi Klein.

The 61st annual festival opened on Wednesday as dozens of protesters picketed the premiere of Tom Hanks' movie The Terminal.

They parked a car made to resemble a pirate ship outside the cinema where the film was being screened.

Protesters object to the change in direction taken by the world's oldest film festival, which this year is attracting a Hollywood A-list crowd to rival that of France's Cannes Film Festival.

The event sees 21 films competing for the Golden Lion grand prize, which was won last year by Russian film The Return.

This year's entrants include a mix of art house movies and blockbusters such as Vanity Fair and Nicole Kidman's Birth.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

In a written ruling, Judge Rodney Melville cited the pop singer's vast wealth as the reason for not reducing his bail.

He also mentioned a previous alleged plan by Mr Jackson to take his accuser's family to Brazil "against their will".

Mr Jackson, 45, has pleaded not guilty to 10 child abuse charges.

'Financial incentive'

In the ruling, which was made public on Wednesday, Judge Melville, of Santa Barbara County Superior Court, also said Mr Jackson had the ability to hire private jets and had frequently travelled outside the US.

He added a secret grand jury transcript "provides detailed evidence" that Mr Jackson tried to arrange for the family of the boy he is accused of molesting to travel to Brazil, and family statements indicated "this was being done against their will".

According to the ruling, Mr Jackson planned to join them in Brazil.

"Assuming this evidence to be true, it demonstrates both the seriousness of the crime and the manner in which defendant handles situations perceived to be difficult," the ruling said.

Judge Melville wrote that "no amount less than $3m would provide a financial incentive to return and appear for hearings and trial".

Criminal record

Mr Jackson is due to stand trial in January 2005.

He has pleaded not guilty to committing a lewd act upon a child, administering an intoxicating agent and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.

Mr Jackson's lawyers had cited his charitable contributions, lack of criminal record and ties to Santa Barbara County in seeking the bail reduction.

Judge Melville acknowledged Mr Jackson lack of prior record, but said this was "partially offset" by previous allegations of child molestation, a reference to a 1993 criminal investigation that never led to charges.

Lawyers on both sides are under court orders not to speak to the media about details of the case before the start of the trial.